If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Thanks to this thread I've been on a Shirley Jackson kick. I don't know how I've never been exposed to her before. I am so into her writing. I started with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which was absolutely brilliant. It honestly blew me away with how great she is able to conjure up creepy atmosphere. I then read The Lottery and Other Stories. It amazes me that she can convey so much in so few pages! And now I've started The Haunting of Hill House. I'm hooked.

Top form Stephen King. Moving, scary, thrilling, beautiful novel. Just started the Hulu series and... Man. King's descriptions were so rich and specific. I can tell the series has made a lot of creative changes. Not sure how I feel about it.

Thanks to this thread I've been on a Shirley Jackson kick. I don't know how I've never been exposed to her before. I am so into her writing. I started with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which was absolutely brilliant. It honestly blew me away with how great she is able to conjure up creepy atmosphere. I then read The Lottery and Other Stories. It amazes me that she can convey so much in so few pages! And now I've started The Haunting of Hill House. I'm hooked.

I feel like I only ever come in here to sing the praises of Shirley Jackson. I love her SO much. She was brilliant at building that creepy, atmospheric dread I so love in a book.

I'm finishing Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue today. I wish I'd read it before I read Crimson Petal because the comparisons are inevitable and not entirely favorable, though I do like the Donoghue a lot.

I actually preferred Slammerkin to Crimson Petal, in the end. Michel Faber's prose and characters are fantastic but his structure frustrated me. He would spend pages and pages on mostly irrelevant subplots and then gloss over important stuff that happened to the main character. Slammerkin was just more tightly constructed and ultimately left a bigger impression on me.

"See everything as an illusion, and enjoy it even though you are not of it."
~Alanis Morissette, paraphrased

What a sad thread. This is like watching robots being fed a regular diet of critic approved and commercialized fiction. Have you lot ever read a novel that wasn't on a bestseller list or lauded by critics and won some speshul prize? Have you ever read a novel just because it sounded interesting to you? Have you ever read an original piece of fiction in your life? Try it sometimes, and you might see what it feels like to be a real reader.

It doesn't really matter the what. That's up to the individual. For example, I'm a Scarlett Thomas fan (The End of Mr. Y is a fave) but any novel you discover without looking at a bestseller list or from critics buzz would apply. Happy hunting! A whole world of literature awaits!

What a sad thread. This is like watching robots being fed a regular diet of critic approved and commercialized fiction. Have you lot ever read a novel that wasn't on a bestseller list or lauded by critics and won some speshul prize? Have you ever read a novel just because it sounded interesting to you? Have you ever read an original piece of fiction in your life? Try it sometimes, and you might see what it feels like to be a real reader.

Thank you, Ryan. I mean, someone trying to start dramaz in THE BOOK THREAD= buh bye. This is the least dramatic thread ever and I like it that way!

In other news, I have read a couple of books since I last posted:
The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson

I only read this book because it was on mega sale in the Kindle store, and I am so glad I did. It's about a super successful divorce lawyer who is estranged from her ex-con mother, and after her mother dies, she discovers that she has two siblings she didn't know about. She and her brother go on a quest to locate her younger sister. It's a wonderful book and I found the end very very moving.

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

HOLY GOD THIS BOOK IS SO FUCKING SEXY, first of all. It really captures that intense longing you have when you are young and in love, but also manages to be this really profound meditation on what it means to have to be in the closet and not be able to express your sexuality fully in the world. I tore through this and I cried at the end. A beautiful book. Just gorgeous. I can't wait for the movie.

Christodora by Tim Murray

A story about a housing complex on the Lower East Side in NYC that spans over two decades, the most narratively important part being during the AIDS crisis. Some of it is very good, and some of it lost me entirely. There's one storyline involving a woman that really bothered me, since she is eventually punished very harshly for a decision she made when she was younger that felt really cruel to me. Sometimes the story got a little confusing and some of it felt pointless, but overall I enjoyed it.